Our Adventure with the Final Fantasy Gang: 3!
by lilypop8
Summary: Strange things are starting to happen again... But in our time! 3 years of living normal lives, and now this! However, once and for all, this may be our last adventure... Final story to OAWTFFG!
1. We're Screwed

Lily: Welcome back! Now let the final story begin!

Daniel: This one may be longer than the first. We will try to keep it short like the second though. We will see in the end.

Anna: The first part of this chapter is letting you know what's been happening since their last adventure, and then gets more exciting towards the end. Enjoy!

* * *

Everything darkened inside. The only light that shone was the red light of the alarm. It was loud. Very loud. Fantasy never liked the alarm. It only went off when intruders ventured near the place – that was rare though. And never was it a real person. It was just some animal that had wandered too far – too close to this place.

Views from the cameras outside popped up onto the big screen that was now his. He inherited everything there was of Master X's once he came back from his last trip three years ago. Ryan wanted nothing to do with it. With Trevor dead, and with Master X having no other family, Fantasy became the one to take over. Not that he minded. He just wasn't ready. But now, after three years, Fantasy was doing just fine with the research Master X left behind. He had enough samples from Ivalice to continue on with it.

Fantasy dully began to gaze over each square of different views. In a middle of a sigh, Fantasy's red eyes widened. "What? No… No it can't be!" He lurched forward, touching the track ball he used as a mouse to look at the other section. His eyes widened more. "But how… how is this all possible? I know how to get there… but those getting here is just…just…"

"Sir!" some lab assistants came rushing in, out of breath. "Sir, have you seen-"

"Yes, yes of course!" Fantasy hastily snapped. "Of course I have!" He bit his bottom lip. He isn't an idiot. Nor was he blind. He could clearly see the situation on hand at the very moment.

"Sir," an older male with long brown hair pulled back into a messy, low ponytail stepped forward, "There is an exceedingly large amount of earthquakes taking place where the ex-Gamers live, sir."

"And?" Fantasy raised a brow, wondering what his lab assistant was getting at when they had more important matter to deal with. Fantasy already knew that the location of the ex-Gamers had earthquakes often many times a year.

"And there are an explosion of fires happening in Italy at the moment!" a female spoke.

"A tsunami is happening in New York!"

"This can't possibly be a coincidence, sir!"

At once, everyone else started talking about strange occurrences happening around the world in several different places.

Fantasy was at a stump.

* * *

"_It has been exactly seven months since the sudden disappearance of four young adults. Many think it was strange that all four happened to vanish on the same day at the same time... Recently reports have been made that three of them lived in the same town and one lived on an island off of Hawaii-"_

Nicole shut off the radio and plugged in her iPod. _Girls' Generation _blasted throughout the vehicle with their song _Gee_. Sh ehardly payed attention to any of it though – her mind wandered off to elsewhere. She hoped the loud playing upbeat music would help get her mind off what she had just heard on the radio, but it didn't.

She sighed loudly before flicking on the windshield wipers. A light drizzle turned into pouring rain. Rain wasn't Nicole's favorite thing. She rather despised it; it made her mood grouchy. Overall, rain made everything around depressing. Even the name for it, _rain_, sounded rather depressing!

A familiar ringing sound blasted even louder than the radio. Nicole narrowed her eyes down at her phone which played _George Michael's_ song _Faith_. Reaching a hand down, Nicole ran her finger over the unlock slide, answering the call. She put it on speaker, and turned down the radio.

"What's up Dan?" she asked loudly.

"Where are you?" it was hard to hear him with his soft-spoken tone.

"I'm heading home. You're on speaker, so speak up please." Nicole replied, putting her right hand back on the wheel and letting up the gas a little.

"Did you hear the radio then? They're talking about it again…"

It went silent as Nicole thought.

Finally, her mouth cracked open. "Yeah… I heard it."

* * *

Daniel brought the cellular phone away from his ear as he rubbed his temples and sighed. He brought it back to his ear. "All of a sudden bringing it back after four months of silence… Kind of irritating, if you ask me." He spun his chair around, facing the window. Fresh new water droplets smacked against the window, old ones left dry streaks from when they had slid down the window. "It is pouring where you are?"

"Yeah. Looks like it could be a frikken flood. Pray tell why in the world we moved here again?"

"There was a job opportunity here for me, and you all wanted to attend the college here."

"…I knew that."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Anyway, the reason why I called is because Erika wanted to meet up for dinner tonight. She says she'll pay."

"Uhm… and she couldn't call me herself, why?"

"Nicole, its _Erika_." Daniel said, blinking dully at the phone in his hand.

"Oh right, lazy."

"That'd be it."

"What time did she want to meet and where?"

Daniel shrugged his shoulders, his eyes glancing back outside where the rain and wind began to pick up. "I think she said six-thirty at the plaza. I'm not going to get there until around six-forty five though, since I'm on the other side of the town."

"You're always late, Dan. That's become the norm for our little group. Anyway, got it. It's six-fifteen now so I'll just go ahead and head on over there now. Talk to you later dude,"

Daniel nodded his head to himself. "See you soon," he clicked the end button as he released a long sigh.

* * *

The next exit came into sight. Nicole flicked her signal on and jumped over to the next lane. She flicked it off for a few minutes until she was further near the exit, and she flicked her left one back on. She came to a halt at the stop, watching and waiting as cars passed by. When it was all clear, she turned and continued her way further into town, flicking her signal off again.

The plaza came into sight after twenty-five minutes of driving. It was a little past six-thirty; Erika was probably going to complain about how long she had to wait for someone to show up. Nicole wouldn't care though. Erika would just have to live.

The eighteen year old parked across the street from the plaza. The rain had let up, leaving everything damp. Erika could be visibly seen sitting on the edge of the large water fountain that was placed in the center, her long black hair put into a low pony tail hung over her left shoulder. She was occupied by her phone, either texting or reading a news story on the internet.

Stuffing her wallet in her front pants pocket, and stuffing her keys in her other fronts pant pocket, Nicole exited her vehicle, slamming the door shut and jogging across the street before some stupid person decided to speed around the corner and hit her.

"Erika!" Nicole called out, waving her hand at her best friend.

Erika glanced up from whatever she was doing on her phone and grinned. She waved back, calling out, "Nicole!" she jogged her way and the two found each other in a hug.

It had been a while since they had last hung out.

They released their hold of one another and smiled.

"How's school been?" Erika inquired as the two sat down on the edge of the fountain. All they had to do now was wait for Daniel to appear.

"It's going well…" Nicole replied, "How's work?"

Erika groaned. "Horrible. I really hate it. I don't get any respect around that damn place and they decided to cut my pay for some frikken awful reason that they hardly even explained! I'm still looking for a new job – they think I'm going to stay forever there, but HAH! Jokes on them. Once I am sure I found a stable job, I'm getting my ass out of that place! I'm only staying in it right now for the money that I do get." She explained quickly yet thoroughly with a look of irritation.

"They're supposed to give you a good reason for cutting your pay. Have you asked them for one?" Nicole asked.

Erika shrugged. "It was only recent. It'd probably be the more adult thing to do – ask them that is, but I decided to not even bother asking it since I really don't give a crap about what they do now. I'm hoping to be out of there by next month. My mom still sends me a good amount of money each month, so I'm doing just fine with that pay cut. I know eventually mom will stop sending me money, and by that time I plan to be in a stable job."

Nicole nodded. "Sounds good,"

"I know," Erika replied. "Anyway, what about your job? Are you still working as an accountant for that company?"

"Yeah. It's not something I want to keep doing forever, but the pay is good and I'm not having any problems so I plan to stick with that for a while longer." Nicole said.

"At least it's going good. What about Dan? Is he rising in the ranks of his job? Works for some little gaming company, doesn't he?" Erika said, tapping her chin in thought.

"He's getting pretty up there!" Nicole replied with a light laugh. "I think he's enjoying it. He's still pretty young too! Only twenty-two years old and he's already practically a boss."

"Well, stick-man was always the brainy type. His vocabulary is very colorful and his ideas are always brilliant ones. Those will get him far in life." Erika said, grinning.

Nicole raised a brow. "Since when did you compliment people?" she curiously questioned with suspicion.

"She just wants me to buy her ice cream afterwards." A voice replied.

Nicole shifted around. Daniel walked up to them, wearing his fancy tie and dress shirt.

Erika fake gasped. "Daniel! How could you accuse me of such false accusations! What do you take me for?"

Daniel turned to Nicole. "You know, I'm getting really scared of Erika using such big words for her small mind. I'm afraid too many might damage her mentally."

This time Erika actually did look insulted. "Accusations is not a big word."

"It was for you four months ago." Nicole pointed out.

"Does your brain even comprehend what you're saying? Or does your mouth just take over?" Daniel mockingly asked.

"Jerkwads…" Erika grumbled and stood up.

Nicole chuckled as she also stood up. "We just like messing with ya, girly." Nicole said, hugging Erika from the side.

"So what place in mind did you have, Erika? I'm starving." Daniel said, loosening his tie.

"I want to get a salad… McDonalds?" Erika sheepishly smiled.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Cheap ass,"

"Going to McDonalds for a salad is like going to a whore for a hug." Nicole grimaced.

Erika looked at Nicole, giving her a strange look. "What the hell Coley? You compare things in the strangest way."

Nicole laughed. "Actually, Conway tol-…" she trailed off, her gaze falling to the ground slowly.

"C'mon, I'll treat you guys to some Italian instead!" Erika beamed suddenly, grabbing Nicole's hand and dragging her away. Daniel followed silently behind the two as they headed across the street. They passed many shops that were all cramped together in different buildings. Clothing stores, bakeries, coffee shops… They were used to the "city" life now.

There was nothing for them in their old small town, hidden up in the mountains. Anna and Stephanie had a brilliant idea to move the city. Unsure at first, the others slowly began to warm up to the idea. The college there was better, Ryan was already in the city, and they had more of a variety of opportunities to choose from than in their own town.

Finding a place to live was the hardest. They had opted to get a big apartment and share the rent, but that idea did not work out so well. It was hard enough with Anna, Stephanie and Conway wanting to finish their school before finding a job, which would have left Daniel, Erika and Nicole to take care of such a big rent, but then Daniel and Stephanie enjoyed more quiet places and everyone living together would not be quiet. In the end, they had split up. Anna and Daniel lived together, Conway and Nicole lived together and Erika and Stephanie lived together. It was easier that way on their wallets too.

A full year had gone by… They were living such happy lives. Everything was going so well. Fantasy never appeared. Rosalina was still certain he would show up. The others, however, were beginning to feel uncertain about that fact. Fantasy was the type who wouldn't be able to wait three years to see them all. Nicole knew the kid wouldn't even be able to wait a month! Slowly their idea of Fantasy coming to visit faded away, into the back of their minds where they rarely ever thought of it.

Thinking of anything to do with their adventures eventually became a rare thought.

Time was just moving on.

Life became busier.

They were becoming normal again.

However, all of that changed within seven months of the new year. Their lives turned upside down again on January fifteenth, the day when Anna, Conway, Stephanie and Rosalina disappeared without a trace.

They were unaware of Rosalina's disappearance for a week. Daniel called her the day Conway, Stephanie and Anna had vanished, but received no answer. He left her many voicemails, but she never called back. Daniel thought she might have just been busy or her phone died again and she just kept forgetting to charge it, but that turned out to not be the case. On the eighth day of trying to get a hold of Rosalina, Daniel managed to get through. The phone was answered, but the person who answered was not Rosalina. It was her mother. Her mother explained that she hadn't seen Rosalina since January fifteenth – her daughter had disappeared. Vanished into thin air!

The remaining ex-Gamers started to become concerned and puzzled. The police gave up the search after a month, and all the news about the four young adults died down within two. Nicole and Daniel were rather surprised when it was brought up again on the news today, the fifteenth of August.

Daniel was positive their friends had not vanished like normal people off the street. There was something more to it. Something more…magical.

Nicole and Erika agreed with that logic. After all they had seen in the past five years, it would make perfect sense.

They had no leads to go on though. And since Fantasy never came around, they figured that he had nothing to do with it. That fact confused them greatly. No questions could be asked, though, since they didn't even know where or how they could get in touch with Fantasy. His location was to forever remain a mystery.

Ryan couldn't help with that. Once he and Trevor decided to leave their fathers place, their memories of how to get there were erased. A usual procedure, he told the ex-Gamers.

After five months of researching and thinking of possible theories, the three stopped. Nothing could be done anymore. Nothing could go any further without an idea or a trace. So the only thing they could do is…wait.

They settled into the fancy Italian restaurant, the waitress there taking their drinking orders until they decided on what to eat. Nicole put her menu down at the end of the table. She was a frequent at the restaurant, and knew what she wanted already.

"Curiosity has finally taken over my mind." Daniel said as he handed Nicole his menu. "Why did you suddenly want to go out to eat, Erika?"

Erika buried her face within the menu. Nicole and Daniel waited patiently. They would wait all night if they had to.

Erika muttered something lightly underneath her breath. Daniel leaned over the table. "What was that?"

"I said!" Erika exclaimed rather loudly, harshly placing her menu down. "Did you guys hear the news today?"

"Yeah," both dully replied.

Erika shoved the menu back into her face. "I got to thinking…and I got lonely…" she muttered loudly enough for only the two of her friends to hear.

"I think we all did." Daniel commented.

"Then I don't need to apologize for asking you guys to eat out with me." Erika said while she childishly stuck out her tongue.

Nicole laughed as she playfully rolled her eyes. Sometimes it was good to see Erika's inner child.

"Besides," Erika continued. "We've all been busy lately with work and school and whatnot, and we haven't seen each other in a while, so I thought some socializing would do us all some good! You know, catch up and stuff."

"It's scary of how you actually think about other people nowadays." Daniel sarcastically commented with a smirk.

"Yeah well, tomato tomahto."

"What?"

"I have no clue."

"So, Ryan couldn't make it?" Nicole curiously questioned.

Erika glanced over at Nicole. "He said he didn't feel up to going out. He just wants to sleep today."

"That boy has been a mess since they disappeared." Daniel stated.

"We were at first too." Erika retorted.

The waitress came back over to take their orders as Nicole said, "We still are."

Daniel nodded in agreement. "I still cry once in a while, when I really think about it."

"I suppose when you say you cried, you mean only one tear right?" Nicole asked.

Finishing giving the order to the waitress, Daniel turned back to Nicole. "No, no, you misunderstand. I only cry one tear when I want to fool someone." The waitress moved onto Erika as Daniel laughed. "I actually _cry _when I think about them. I do have feelings."

"You sure don't act like you do." Erika retorted quickly before giving the waitress her order.

"It's called being a man." Daniel replied nonchalantly.

Nicole quickly gave the waitress her order as she handed over the menus. "Sometimes it's good to take a break from being a manly man." She said.

"I've been getting better." Daniel replied with a light shrug.

"We're all screwed up and annoying in some way or another, but somehow we all learned to tolerate it and get along just fine." Nicole spoke, smiling at her glass.

"We've been together for a very long time now." Daniel added.

"But it feels like we're slowly drifting apart…" Erika sighed.

"It can't be helped." Nicole said.

"We're living our own lives now – we are growing up. It is a natural occurrence to grow apart from things – from people – that we've been around all of our childhood as we enter adulthood. I assure you though; our friendship will never break apart. Wow, that sounded completely cliché. Shoot me now, _please_." Daniel begged, looking at Nicole desperately.

"I was about to do it before you even finished. You were _scaring _me, Dan." Nicole said with a look of shock and horror.

"I've been under the table since the second sentence!" Erika's muffled voiced sounded out from underneath the table.

Nicole held up the table cloth. "Erika Nicole, get the hell out from under there!"

"Nicole Mae! I will not leave the safety of the table until Daniel is shot!"

"Daniel Joseph!"

Erika popped her head out. The two girls looked at Daniel.

He shrugged. "I felt left out. I mean, no one called me by my first and middle name."

The two women exchanged gazes.

"I'll get the gun…" Nicole whispered as she slowly slipped out of her seat.

"I'll sedate him…" Erika whispered back as she stood up like everything was cool.

"We have got to be the weirdest damn people in this restaurant." Daniel commented.

Yet, before either of the two girls could actually sit back in their seats and enjoy their food that was placed on the table in front of them, the whole restaurant began to shake violently. Erika fell back into her chair with an "oof", while Nicole gripped hold of the table.

"Earthquake!" someone screamed. Panic hit the people. The manager came running out from the kitchen, telling everyone to get down. Adults and children ducked underneath their dinner tables. The three friends quickly followed suit.

Dishes clanked and clattered. Glasses of wine, soda and water fell over, staining the white table clothes and dripped down onto the floor. A few wine glasses rolled off the table and onto the porcelain floor where they shattered. A young teenage girl screamed when one hit the floor near her and broke, frightened sobs began to emit from her. Her grandfather grabbed her into a hug and stroked her hair, kissing the top of her head repeatedly as he tried to comfort her. It was hard though when the place continued to violently shake.

"Oh my gosh…"

"_What_ in the world is _that_?"

"It's hideous!"

"It's a monster!"

Nicole, Daniel and Erika all blinked, puzzled immensely. Some people had gotten up and out of their safety spot and tried to make it to the door, where they stopped and stared outside.

The glass from some of the windows shattered. Shards flew around inside the room, causing more distress. Men, women and children shrieked and screamed in fear.

A roar was heard.

The ex-Gamers exchanged looks.

What in the world was happening?

There was only one way to find out.

They crawled out from underneath the table, and carefully stood up while holding onto either a table or a nearby wooden column. Another loud, ferocious roar emitted from outside. Cars honked, alarms went off, people screamed – but that roar was loud and clear to all.

The ground stopped shaking for just a moment, allowing the three friends to glanced outside and see what exactly was going on at the plaza. The fountain was in pieces, water sprayed everywhere. Standing in the middle of all that rubble was some creature. His head featured several feline traits, though he supported an overall humanoid shape. His arms were huge, but could they even be depicted as arms? No one was sure. He swung one of them towards the ex-Gamers vision. His arm split off into two parts, one was like a blade of sort, while the other curved over a bit, with what seemed like frills covering the end all around it.

Erika and Nicole gasped. Daniel just couldn't believe his eyes. His mouth opened slightly, words began to spill out, words that he hadn't spoken or even remembered in such a long time. They were words his conscience had put back into his subconscious long, long ago.

"Scion set by the gods to wield and manipulate the laws of this world and with holy power lead mankind to order. Created in opposition to Fandaniel the Protector, scion of light. Desiring to bring order to all things, he joined with Ultima in her battle against the gods. He gave his body to the Thousand-Years War, and when his strength was spent, down into the burning inferno he fell…"

"The almighty…" Erika continued.

Nicole opened her mouth next. "Hashmal!"

Daniel groaned. "Not again..."

* * *

Here is how this is going to work – The Gang is going to be traveling around to different places, and they need more characters to help them close off the portals. They will stay in that town for a while, maybe a very long chapter or two, but after that they will leave to the next town. Your character will stay in their town, but don't worry! Once the Gang leaves, you'll see your character again eventually!

ONLY ONE CHARACTER PLEASE!

**Character Name: (you only have to put a first name, but if you want to put a middle and last, then go right ahead!)**

**Age: (can be any age. Honestly we do not care.)**

**Personality:**

**Appearance: (hair, eyes, height, clothes, accessories.)**

**Family:**

**Past: (Please let there be happy memories! We're not looking for completely depressed characters. =D In this section a lot will most likely not be mentioned, but we would at least like to be able to know about your characters to get a better feel of them! And depending on how long the gang will be around your character, some of their past may be revealed or not.)**

**Weapon:**

**Town/City/Country/State: (Choose any, and the gang will travel there. If someone picks the same place as you do, then we will talk with both of you about if you would like your character and the other person character to already know each other or not. Either way, both characters will meet the Gamers there.)**

**Person they would get along with the most: (either choose from the Gamers or from the guys from Ivalice please. You can choose multiple, of course!)**

**Person who they would not get along with the most: (same as above!)**

**Type/Sense of humor:**

**Have they ever played Final Fantasy XII before or not: (we just want to know if they are going to be totally clueless on who everyone is or know right away.)**

If we need any additional details, we will get in touch with you! Sound good?

**But most important thing EVER is… HAVE FUN CREATING YOUR CHARACTERS!**

We will stop accepting characters on chapter 4 I believe...

**Also, if you are new to the story as in you didn't read the first two** (which would be weird if you read this one before the other two) we suggest that you should go read the other two before submitting a character to this. Please and thank you!

And Conway says if we don't at least get one or two more males he will murder a pillow. SAVE THE PILLOWS!


	2. Cardboard Is Mah Best Friend!

Lily: Been down in the dumps lately. Sorry! Got up a crappy chapter though. Not too fond of it... Maybe not enough inspiration at the moment.

Anna: Hopefully the 3rd will be much better, although it'll mostly be explanations, and then maybe heading off onto a new adventure!

Stephanie: What time is it?

Erika: ADVENTURE TIME!

Conway: Oh Dear God no!

Daniel: Where's a gun when I need one?

Rosalina: *Shakes head*

Fantasy: Thanks to: **Snoara, FF4Life, ZodiarkSavior, daydreamer, AntisocialButterfly42, Golden Omega, skyfireflight16, Alias Midnight, and GreatAuthor-Sama **for your reviews, and lovely characters!

Lily: Er... Onto the story?

* * *

Finally, it hit Fantasy. "Wait a moment…" he spun around in the chair. "If those are here, and all these disasters are happening around the world, then what must be happening there is…" Fantasy slammed his fist down. "Dammit! Someone from the other side must've made a portal, and now chaos is happening around the world! We must find this person and where the portal is and stop it!"

"Sir, there is more than one portal."

"What?" Fantasy exclaimed.

"They're coming out of different portals!"

"We have to find all of them and stop others from coming through. What if a Hume were to come through? We have to keep here a secret!" Fantasy stated. He quickly shuffled towards the door, grabbing his black coat off the hanger and throwing it on.

"S-sir, where are you going?" a panicked female questioned.

Fantasy didn't stop, so they followed. "I'm going to go put a stop to the riot outside, find the portal, and then go take care of the rest. Where is my staff?"

"O-oh…u-uhm it's in its hold chamber…" a male replied.

Fantasy made a sharp turn around the corner. Some of the people behind him stumble a bit to catch up with him.

"Sir, don't you think it's best to get them involved? It's impossible for you to take care of all of this! Especially if my calculations are correct, then there should be many more monsters coming from Ivalice!" the oldest looking of the bunch fixated her glasses that were falling onto the edge of her nose. "You'll tire yourself out if you try and do this by yourself, sir."

"No, I do not want to get them involved anymore." Fantasy stated quickly.

"But sir, don't you think they'll disagree with that? Once they see the monsters, they'll feel as if it is their duties as the Gamers to take care of them. The moment they think that, nothing will stop them. It's just better to ask for their help sooner than later. Besides, the more help, the quicker this will all be solved."

Fantasy stopped, turning toward a door and opened it, heading inside. The researchers quickly scurried after him.

"You may be right," he sighed in defeat. "I won't be able to stop them once they see what is happening." His staff floated inside a glass tube, Fantasy walked over to large machine, touching the screen which caused everything to light up. He typed quickly on the touch screen. The glass tube opened up and Fantasy rushed over to grab his staff. "I'll have to restore their powers… It'll be hard, and they will be on a time limit. They will be required to travel around, much like their adventures in Ivalice."

"Fantasy sir!" Another researcher rushed into the room. "More and more portals are opening up around the world at a fast pace!"

Fantasy glowered. "What? !" he exclaimed, cursing to himself afterwards. "With their powers on a time limit, it'll be impossible for them to close so many of those!" Fantasy muttered to himself as he turned away, gripping his staff.

"S-Sir… what do we do?"

"I… I don't know! Give me time to think!" Fantasy snapped, frustrated and confused.

"There isn't time to think, sir! They're coming at a rapid pace! Soon they'll make it to the big cities and cause uncontrollable chaos that will leave everything in pieces!" The female researcher from earlier exclaimed with fright as she waved her arms around.

"They've breached the barrier!" An older man exclaimed.

Fantasy grabbed two handfuls of his hair, gripping and pulling. "What to do? What to do? All of this just happened so suddenly! There is no time to think! They won't be able to close the portals _and _take care of all those monsters within the time limit! This is no good. No good at all! Master X…" Fantasy whimpered. "If you were here, you'd know what to do…"

"Sir, we're going to take care of the ones that have breached the barrier. For now, we will try and hold them off."

Fantasy nodded and waved them off. The researchers scrambled quickly out of the room, heading in different directions. Fantasy did not leave however. He stood there, holding his staff close to him, and tried to think.

"What can I do? What can I do? If I knew this was going to happen, I would have more time to think!" Fantasy exclaimed, kicking at the ground. "They can't do it alone… They have to…" an idea came to Fantasy. A genius idea! He smiled; it slowly broadened until it looked to be as wide as the Cheshire cat's grin. "They don't have to do it alone… They can get help… They will have help! From both sides…"

* * *

The three young adults stared shockingly and bewildered at the scene before them. They pushed through the crowd of people inside the restaurant who had also gotten up to find out what in the world was happening outside, and they exited, running across the street filled with stopped cars and newly large cracks in the road.

Screams filled the air. Adults and children alike fled the plaza and the area surrounding it as the creature standing there continued to roar and slam his fists at the ground, causing extreme vibrations, and ultimately, an earthquake.

Erika stumbled forward, but caught herself and then ran as fast as she could to catch up to her two friends who continued their run to the plaza. Erika wasn't sure what they were doing or planning, but something was bound to happen.

Hashmal brought down his hands again, slamming them harshly against the ground. Nicole and Daniel stumbled around. Daniel fell and rolled on the ground, earning himself a few scrapes to his knees and hands. Nicole had managed to hold onto the inside of a car – the window had been thankfully rolled down all the way. When the shaking stopped, they continued their way, Erika fully caught up now.

They stopped when they reached the plaza. Hashmal now swung his arms around, walking back and forth between places to places.

The three examined the Esper. He looked confused, and saddened. Not to mention angered.

"What the hell is wrong with him? And how in the frikken _world _did he get _here_? !" Erika exclaimed in her own confusion.

"I don't think he likes being here." Daniel stated.

"I wouldn't either!" Nicole exclaimed as well.

"What do we do? No one else here knows who the hell this thing is or what to even do! The police can't even get here because of the earthquakes he's giving off!" Erika pointed out in panic. "Oh my God – it can't be our fault right? Right? ! I mean, we're the only ones who actually ever "_met_" with Hashmal – but that's because we are ex-Gamers and he turned out to be Stephanie's summon and I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM GOING WITH THIS I AM FREAKING OUT MAN!" At an earlier point, Erika had grabbed Nicole by her shoulders and roughly shook the girl back and forth while she screamed in her face. Nicole was not amused by these panicked antics of Erika's.

"One: calm the heck down. Two: let go of me…" Nicole pried away Erika's hands, "and three: ARE YOU HYPERVENTILATING? !"

Indeed Erika was!

Now it was Nicole's turn to grab Erika by her shoulders and shake her. "QUIT FREAKING OUT! YOU'RE NOT HELPING THE SITUATION AT ALL IF YOU FREAK THE HELL OUT LIKE THIS!"

"Nicole, I would just like to point out the fact that you are also not helping the situation at all by freaking Erika out even more." Daniel stated quickly, his eyes darting back and forth between the two females and the Esper.

Nicole released Erika, the latter fell to the ground.

"She started freaking out on her own first!" Nicole commented with a huff.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Like I really give a crap on who started freaking out first. Anyway, what do you suppose we do about _that_?"

The two looked back at the Esper, who once more slammed his fists down on the ground, and let out a loud, this time a depressing sounding roar.

Nicole's eyes softened a bit. "I think he just wants to go home…"

"You could tell too, huh?" Daniel sympathetically said.

Nicole nodded. "Yeah… Just look at his eyes. They're so…confused, sad. He doesn't belong here."

"I agree," Daniel said, "but just what in the world are we supposed to do about it? It's not like we have powers or anything anymore."

What Daniel said was very true, Nicole knew. They no longer had any powers. They were just ordinary human beings now. But the real question here was: how in the world did Hashmal end up in their world? Something or someone must've brought him here somehow, someway. And the only way Nicole could conjure up would be…

"…Portal…?"

Daniel and Nicole both glanced down at Erika, whose brows were knitted together in thought and confusion.

"Portal?" Daniel repeated.

Erika slowly nodded. "Yeah… I was just thinking of how Hashmal could have possibly gotten here, and all I could think of was a portal. I mean, that's what we used to transport around to our world and Ivalice, right? So…"

"I was just thinking the same thing." Nicole grinned.

Erika grinned back. "Great minds think alike!"

The two high-fived with Erika now sitting up.

"Then why doesn't he just go back to the portal?" Daniel inquisitively asked.

"Maybe he started to roam around, and got lost. Maybe he doesn't know how to get back to it." Erika replied, tapping her chin.

"It's possible." Nicole shrugged.

"It's the only thing that sounds legit too." Daniel sighed. He rubbed his temples for a moment. He could feel a headache coming on. "I'm starting to get too old for this crap."

Both girls face-palmed. "You're twenty-two." They simultaneously spoke.

"Like I said, I'm getting too old for this crap."

"We give up on you."

"Well, I gave up on you guys long ago." Daniel retorted to which both guys replied with a loud, "HEY!". Daniel ignored them as he went on thinking. "So…what's the plan?" he asked, turning back to the two.

"Get the fuck out of here and let the coppers deal with it." Erika quickly replied.

Nicole gaped at her. "Erika!"

Erika pouted. "Fiiine!"

"You are so inconsiderate of other people's feelings." Daniel said with a shake of his head.

"Oi, you are too, mister!"

"…Fair enough."

"ANYWAY!" Nicole said as the ground began to shake violently. "Hashmal is seriously starting to get pissed here. I have an idea. Someone needs to distract Hashmal while two of us go search for the portal."

"I like that plan!" Erika beamed. "So! Who here gets to distract the Esper?"

Daniel and Nicole exchanged glances. They both shot up and ran off, saying their goodbyes and good lucks to Erika.

Erika sat there on the ground, dumbfounded. "What just happened?" she wonder aloud.

Hashmal let out another vicious roar. Erika slowly turned to face him.

"Aw maaaan…"

* * *

Two blocks away, Daniel and Nicole stopped to catch their breath. Daniel wiped the side of his mouth off with the back of his hand while he straightened himself.

"Think Erika will be okay?" he asked.

"She'll be fine," Nicole replied with a wave of her hand, "she's good at distraction."

Daniel shrugged. "If you say so. So what now?"

"We split up. Choose your route, Dan."

Daniel looked back and forth, up and down the street they were standing on. They seemed to be the only two calm people around, not like there were that many people around at the moment. Most had run up ahead to where Erika and Hashmal was to see what exactly was going on. Cars were parked in the middle of the street. Some alarms were going off, some windows were broken.

"He's really causing the city a mess." Daniel crossed his arms. "Anyway, I'll take the boardwalk. You take the other side of town."

"Ok, sounds good to me! Got your phone?"

Daniel pulled out his phone to show her real quick.

"Contact me if you find anything."

"Likewise,"

The two headed off in completely different directions. Daniel headed east while Nicole headed west. Now all they could do was hope they would find something strange soon, and that Erika wouldn't be too angry with them for leaving her like that.

* * *

"I hate my friends…" Erika grumbled as she slowly stomped her way towards Hashmal. "I always get stuck with the nasty jobs."

"Hey, what does she think she is doing?" Someone in the crowd of people whispered.

"She's insane!"

"Hey, girl! Get away from that thing!"

Erika stopped in place and sharply turned around. "Shut the hell up! I know what I am doing unlike you damn people!" she snapped. She turned her heel back around and continued making her way towards Hashmal in a rather foul mood. "I hate my friends…" she grumbled again, "and stupid people…"

Honestly, Erika felt like going on a tirade about how much she hated her friends and stupid people. Nevertheless, she kept her mouth clamped shut. There were more important things to attend to, whether she liked admitting it or not.

Hashmal stopped his temper tantrum and stared at Erika for a long moment. Erika stared back, placing her hands on her hips in a motherly stern fashion.

"Ok, listen here mister." She began, "I know you're upset, I know you want to go home, but that does not mean you have to go around causing such a ruckus! You're scaring people and destroying public property. That's not very nice, you know! What do you have to say for yourself?"

There was a moment of silence.

Well, minus the alarms.

But other than that, it got pretty quiet.

People could not believe their eyes. This young, barely a woman, girl was _talking _to the strange creature in such a maternal way!

The silence did not last for more than a minute though. Hashmal began to rage again, this time swinging his arms towards Erika.

"EEEEEP!" Erika screeched as she jumped out of the way. Her bare arms and hands ended up get scratched, for she had slid against the concrete street when she had thrown herself out of the way. Hashmal roared again before digging deep into the ground, and pulled up a large part of it. Panic began to rise again, people ran. Erika's eyes widened in fear as Hashmal slowly turned towards her, carrying the large piece of land. She jumped up, running as fast as she could, and just in time dodged Hashmal. He beat his fists upon the ground afterwards.

"YOU'RE 'EFFING CRAZY!" Erika yelled.

Hashmal swung his left arm.

"Eeeep!" Erika squeaked again. "I HATE MY JOOOOOB!"

* * *

Daniel huffed and puffed as he ran around the premises of the boardwalk. He rapidly turned his head left and right, searching for anything that glowed a peculiar color. Much to his dismay, he found nothing. He stopped near a bunch of boats to catch his breath and call Nicole.

She picked up on the fourth ring.

"I can't find anything." Daniel said before she even spoke herself.

"Me either. This is bad. Maybe there isn't a portal afterall?" Nicole fretted.

"How else could he have gotten here then?" Daniel questioned.

"I don't know…! Man, it's starting to get dark too…"

"Let's keep searching."

"Right!"

Stuffing the phone back into his pocket, Daniel took off once more.

* * *

"I. Hate. Running." Nicole gasped for breath, "I've never been good at it and never will be."

"MAMA!"

Nicole halted. Worry hit her. Was a child stuck somewhere? Where were that child's parents?

A low growl followed by a high pitched scream resounded.

_"Looks like I'll be taking a little detour."_ She thought to herself as she took a right into an alleyway. She entered another alleyway, and then another until she spotted a little boy at the end of the third alleyway, and a wolf-like creature looming over him. Behind them something bizarre glowed more than one color.

"What in the world…?" Nicole mumbled to herself.

"Get off! MOMMY!" the little boy screeched.

Nicole snapped back to reality. She frantically searched for something nearby. Sadly, the only thing lying around in this alley was a piece of cardboard.

She rolled her eyes. "You've got to be kidding me…" she picked up the old, semi-wet cardboard and smacked the wolf-like creature with it.

Distracted from its once prey, the creature turned around, allowing Nicole to get a good look at it. "You're from Ivalice too!" she exclaimed.

It ferociously growled in reply.

"M-mommy…" the little boy whimpered as the monster stepped off of him.

"Run away from here. Far away. I'll distract it, so go!" Nicole shouted. The boy sniffed and nodded, rising up from his position. The monster turned around, not intending on letting its prey go, but Nicole smacked it again with the cardboard, gaining back its full attention. During this time the boy took off, running out of the alleyway, crying.

"_Well, I found the portal…_" Nicole thought to herself. "_But what the hell am I supposed to do about this guy?_" she fingered her phone lightly. She just couldn't decide if it would be a good idea to call Dan at this moment in time. The monster could pounce on her any moment, and she would need two hands to defend herself with. "_I'm screwed._" She cringed.

Vibration went off. Nicole squealed. "Vibration in the pants! Holy crap!" she grabbed her phone and answered. "What? I'm about to get busy here!" she exclaimed as the monster lunged forth. "OHMYGOSH!" Nicole scurried out of the way, and climbed up on top of a dumpster.

"What the hell is going on?" Daniel questioned from the other end.

"My frikken doom! Oh, by the way, I found the portal. I'm right next to the music store in an alleyway, defending myself from a creature from Ivalice. COME SAVE ME! MY WEAPON IS FRIKKEN CARDBOARD!" Nicole yelled frantically as she swatted the piece of card board at the monster. "IT'S WET AND FALLING APART!"

"Are you kidding me?"

"DOES IT SOUND LIKE I'M KIDDI-HOLY CRAP IT'S TRYING TO CLIMB!"

"I might be a while. I'm heading back to Erika. We'll form a plan on getting Hashmal to follow us and then head your way."

"All I ask of you is to HURRY! Cardboard isn't the most effective weapon out there."

"How can you even classify that as a weapon?"

"Because I'm me. HANGING UP NOW!"

"See you later, bro."

"I hope…" Nicole uttered one last time before stashing her phone back into her pocket. "Back! Back you vile demon! WHAT? Don't climb you silly beast!" Nicole exclaimed, smacking it back down with cardboard.

Needless to say, neither was happy about the cardboard.

* * *

Erika was not happy. Oh, she was not happy at all. Her face showed it too. The blood began to rush to her head, and it was beginning to make her feel rather uncomfortable. She could feel a headache forming too. Why oh why was she always the one to be capture and hung upside down? Also, Hashmal was holding her by his blade. Thankfully, he did not puncture her, but her jacket had a big hole in it and slowly it was ripping wider and wider. This was her favorite jacket too!

"Oh you've got to be seriously kidding me _now_!"

Erika looked over with a gleam of hope. "Stick-man! You're back! Find the portal?"

Daniel, with a look of disbelief as he stared up at her, nodded his head. "Nicole did… It's by the music store, about five blocks away… Erika…just how…?"

"Don't question it. Just accept it."

"…Right,"

"Any plans on getting me down?"

Daniel laughed. "No, but I do have a plan on leading Hashmal to the portal."

"Oh you ass,"

"I know,"

"So how long have the helicopters been there?" Daniel questioned as he glanced further up.

Police helicopters hovered above them. Daniel could see the end of some guns poking out from the doorways. Spotlights shined all over the place.

"A while now. They've been shouting a lot too. They started shooting at him, but stopped when he grabbed me." Erika replied. "Anyway, continue on with your plan. I'll just…hang here." She crossed her arms and huffed.

"Right… Hey, Hashmal! Over here!" Daniel waved his arms about.

"OH YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! THAT'S YOUR PLAN? !"

"Well what else do you suppose I do?"

"Well you could… Never mind. Proceed."

"That's what I thought."

Daniel could hear people shouting at him to step away from Hashmal through their megaphones, but he honestly didn't give a crap at the moment. All he wanted to do was lead Hashmal away and to the portal. All he wanted to do was get Hashmal home, and no one was going to stop him.

Hashmal shifted his big, hulking body around. With his free arm, he slashed at Daniel, but missed. Slowly, he began to follow the twenty-two year old. The poor Esper could feel his whole body tiring. Lights flashed, and everything around him was loud. So loud. He was just so tired of it all.

Daniel felt sorry for him. Soon he would be home, though. Just as long as he could keep Hashmal's attention on him, everything would be alright.

Slowly, but surely, Daniel managed to get Hashmal to the next block. People followed, curious as to what in the hell Daniel was planning. He sighed. If they saw the portal that would definitely cause a big scene. Not like this hasn't already, but if people knew about Ivalice, bad things were sure to happen. To their time, and Ivalice's. But it's not like Daniel could get them to stop following. He had enough trouble getting Hashmal to calmly follow him as it was. Hashmal tended to get distracted and stressed.

Shots were fired at his back, Daniel and Erika shouted as loud as they could to stop, but the fire never ceased. Hashmal begun to become slower and slower in speed. This worried the two ex-Gamers greatly.

Another shot and Hashmal collapsed to his knees. Erika was released, but she stayed next to him.

"STOP HURTING HIM!" Erika shouted, enraged. "OR I'LL HURT YOU, DAMMIT!"

Daniel grabbed Erika by her shoulders. "Don't threaten the police like that, Erika. We don't need them to take offense to that and have you arrested after all of this is settled."

Erika lowly growled. "But all we are trying to do is get Hashmal home… And they're hurting him!"

Hashmal let out a small, weak roar. Erika lightly touched him. "What do we do?"

"What can we do with all these people as witnesses?" Daniel asked back.

Erika looked down, defeated.

"So we can't do anything…?" she mumbled softly.

Daniel sighed. "Afraid so…"

Erika clenched her fists. "This all happened so fast… And for whatever reason, we may never find out… This…this is just all so frustrating!" Erika slammed her fists onto her legs.

"Don't worry!"

The two adults raised their heads. The sounds of chaos came to a complete stop. The helicopters froze in air, the people all around them stopped in mid-step. It was purely silent. Hashmal, Daniel and Erika were the only ones free to move.

"I've got you all covered on this one. Didn't mean to let it run out of hand like this, but I was busy with closing the portal near my place."

"That voice…" Daniel murmured.

A young boy with raven colored hair and eyes as red as rubies now stood before them. He smiled brightly. "It's nice to see you two again after three years!"

Erika blinked. "Fantasy?"

* * *

Nicole stared blankly at the wolf before her, seemingly frozen. She slowly lowered the cardboard from where she had it raised high in the air, and began to laugh. "It's…it's frozen. Ha… Hahaha… HAHAHAHA TAKE THAT!" she jumped down from the dumpster and smacked it once.

"Nicole!"

"AAAAAHHH!"

And back onto the dumpster she went.

"I think we might have left her alone a little too long…"

Nicole glared at the tall figure, her hand over her racing heart. "YA THINK?" she shouted fiercely. "I was fighting that damn thing with a piece of _wet cardboard_!"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "If I knew you wouldn't be fine fending yourself with just that, I would have come a lot sooner to help you." He stated, heading into the alley.

"You can be such an ass." Nicole pouted.

"Quit your whining. We brought a couple of guests. As in "we", I mean myself and whatever is left of Erika." Daniel snickered.

Erika appeared around the corner, wet and angry looking.

"How _dare_ you push me into a puddle and run off, Dan!" Erika pointed her finger sternly at the older male.

"Oh, cry me a river." Daniel mockingly replied with a roll of his eyes. "Any who," he turned back to Nicole. "We brought a special guest."

Erika beamed immediately, spinning around and crouching slightly. "Come here boy! Atta boy! That's a good boy!" she puckered her lips and made little smooching, calling sounds like one would use when calling a dog.

The ground shook with each step and moan Nicole could hear. Hashmal trudged into view; he was tired and hurt from what Nicole could tell. Her features softened and she carefully climbed down off the dumpster.

"What in the world happened?" the ex-Gamer questioned as she gently touched the Esper. Hashmal flinched away, curling himself together.

"Damn coppers came. They shot at him. He's weak. He needs to get home, and fast." Daniel stated, looking over at the shining portal.

"Hey… FANTASY! Get out here!" Erika shouted, puffing out her cheeks and placing her hands at her sides in a motherly fashion.

"Sorry! But the city you live in has some very intriguing paintings on the walls in every corner! What is it that the messages are trying to convey?" Fantasy poked his head out from around a corner, smiling big. Nicole's mouth dropped open.

"Those aren't paintings. That's graffiti created by stupid teenagers and young adults who have nothing better to do than spend their time writing, "F U," and other inscrutable writings that you can just barely read or make out." Daniel sighed and shook his head.

"That depends where you go in this city. Downtown where we are don't have the prettiest things on the walls…" Erika mumble, rubbing her chin in thought.

Fantasy cocked his head to the side. "F U…?"

"It means, "Fuck you"."

"DANIEL!"

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, who cares? Fantasy heard a lot more than that anyway."

Nicole rolled his eyes. "He's still a child."

"Actually, Master, I'm older than you… Just thought I would let you know."

Erika incredulously looked at Fantasy, and eyed him. "DEMON! HE DOESN'T AGE!" She screeched, jumping back and hiding herself behind Hashmal.

Fantasy face palmed. "I thought we went through this already."

"Ok, we're wasting time talking. Have your little reunion already so we can get Hashmal into that portal, start up time again, and figure this all out." Daniel said, gesticulating towards Nicole and Fantasy.

"Oh right," Thus, Nicole and Fantasy proceeded on with the reunion by hugging.

Releasing Fantasy from her arms, Nicole walked back over to Hashmal, gently touching the Esper once more. "How do we get him to go back in?"

"Guide him to the portal. This reality is not healthy for him, and he's slowly losing his strength. Once he returns to his time, he'll gradually gain back his strength and his wounds from the cops will heal. He'll be back to normal in no time flat. Not to mention happy." Fantasy smiled.

The three nodded, and after some effort, they managed they get Hashmal up and moving again. The Esper turned his head back at the three and gave them a slight nod, as thanks for their help. He entered the portal and disappeared.

"We'll put this guy back too. Daniel, can you pick him up and put him into the portal?" Fantasy questioned, pointing to frozen Ivalice wolf.

Daniel nodded and picked it up with ease. He walked towards the portal and placed the wolf down, nudging it with his foot until it was completely inside. Fantasy walked up to the portal, and sealed it with him staff.

Fantasy let out a sigh of relief, then lifted his staff into the air. A bright light shone for a quick few seconds, before everything began to run again. Time had started once more.

* * *

Lily: Next chapter we'll be heading off to story land!

Stephanie: We've seen some very nice characters made. =) We're excited to start using them!

Anna: Characters will be accepted until chapter 4.

Daniel: Apologies for the crappy update, but it's better than nothing, right?

Lily: We'll excuse ourselves now. Dead tired.

Fantasy: Adios!


End file.
